All Good Things...

Last week's 3-6-5 photo choice was one a kitchen staff member took of our volunteers having their own celebration of Oreo's 100th anniversary! It was exciting (especially to those of us with a partiality for the sandwich cookie) to realize how many great things happened around the same time. Not the least of which is, of course, the Mission :) We are so excited at reaching the milestone of 100 years of service to Michigan's capital area and the opportunity to bring eternal joy to the lives of men, women, and children in need.

It's great, too, to be able to fellowship with our fellow rescuers and not only to give joy but also to live it, while we serve!

The View from the Top

Most of us, at this point, would prefer to forget that just days ago there was snow on the ground. However, the photo chosen to represent the Mission as the profile pic of our page on facebook shows the snowy ground as seen from above: the roof of our Maplewood Center. This view helps me look at once in the past, present, and future. Seeing Maplewood is a reminder that a year ago, the building was still under renovation. While the east wing was occupied, the west wing (and largest portion of the project) still had to be completed. The quietness is reflective of that waiting period, where we had to "quiet" our spirits, our anxieties and eagerness, and rest in God's timing for the project. Now, in the present, it's difficult to remember those frustrations as we deal with today's challenges. The view also looks toward the future in that I can see the projects yet to be completed. A great example is the playground. Contemporary to the building's service as a school, the play area is in need of its own renovations. With the help of our local Kiwanis groups and Lake Trust Credit Union, we hope our "Mission: Play" project will be underway within the next few months. So many opportunities to continue to serve our guests! Because of your support of our efforts on behalf of men, women, and children in Michigan's capital area.

Wash Me Whiter than Snow

The City Rescue Mission has been "capturing" images to represent the Mission as we celebrate our 100th year of service to Michigan's capital area. This week, the photo chosen was of the recent (and rare this winter) snowstorm that blanketed our community in a layer of white. In Psalm 51, David asks God to wash him "whiter than snow." For many of us, not just our guests, we have things in our past that haunt us. Choices or circumstances we would love to forever purge from our memories and our lives. It's more than just the consequences; there is the guilt that covers us in darkness and despair. However, Psalm 103 also encourages us that "as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." Once we put our trust in Him.

That is the message we have proclaimed for our 100 years of existence, the message that shines from the cross that symbolizes the Mission, the message of "rescue" and forgiveness. "Hope lives and rescue can be found, within sight of the cross."

All Creatures Great and Small

This week, our 3-6-5 photo highlights the fearlessness of a little boy named Elijah as he confronted Azan, a rather large dog. Don't get me wrong, Azan really is a walking teddy bear. Our executive director brings his (can I say gigantic?) chocolate labradoodle to the shelter, and most people eventually give his head a pat. And Azan loves the attention. He loves to be loved. However, in many cases he can look our young guests in the eyes, and his teeth, yeah, they're intimidating. But Elijah was fascinated by this "creature" that walked into his world on four paws and settled onto the floor like a rug. He actually thought Azan might be a rug and tried laying on him a few times. Then he wondered what was hiding inside the giant toy to make it move, but gazing inside Azan's mouth didn't reveal anything more than a long red tongue.

The truth was that Elijah's fearlessness came from a state of ignorance. He didn't know that big things, like Azan, are not always as nice and forbearing as Azan happens to be. Elijah trusted that he was safe and would be protected. It's fitting that his name means "My God is the Lord" and comes from the fearless (most times) prophet Elijah in the Old Testament. Elijah doesn't yet realize that there is such a thing as homelessness and shelters or poverty and want. He trusts. A simple, fearless faith that we should all emulate.

Praise the Lord, Elijah and his mom have a home of their own now. And we pray that it will be a house blessed by faith in "the Lord is my God" and fearlessness that God will always protect them.

Life Transformation

The recent expansion at our women and children's shelter (coming up on a year!) allowed us the opportunity to provide a Life Transformation Program for Women. We are excited at this opportunity to make a difference in the lives of women, and we have been blessed with our first "applicant." Gina, our women's program manager, is very dedicated to this new responsibility, and her excitement and enthusiasm for the ministry is contagious. Please keep both staff and our guests in your thoughts and prayer. And please continue to pray that those in need of the Mission and the truth we represent will have the courage and determination to take that first step on a journey toward life transformation!

Feeding the Multitudes

Over the past few months, the Mission has been working on our Centennial 3-6-5 project. The idea for a 3-6-5 project did not originate with us, but we are grateful to be able to use this idea as a tool to show our supporters (fellow Rescuers) the work the Mission does on a regular basis. Each week, seven photos are chosen to represent that week in the "life" of the Mission during its 100th year of service. Staff and those who visit the Mission's page on facebook are able to "like" and comment about the photos of the week. The photo with the most comments is chosen to represent the Mission as the profile pic of our page on facebook.

This past week, the photos have all been of drawings done by some of the children who stay at our women and children's shelter. Too many people are unaware that the Mission actually provides shelter to men, women, and children. And the reality is that we are currently providing shelter to more women and children than men. (Last month, for example, we had 153 different women and children stay at our shelter.

The theme of these photos included Jesus walking on the water, self portraits by the children, and the feeding of the 5,000. Our executive director works with the children every Wednesday evening and had the opportunity to help teach them this story about God's provision.

One of the great things about this story, and the photo that was chosen, is how it represents what the Mission does every day. For 100 years, we have existed solely on the faith that God will provide. Last year, we served 118,000 meals, and we could only do that because people were moved with compassion and donated funds and food. These "Rescuers" were an answer to prayer, our prayers and those of our guests.

Thank you for helping us help others. Thank you for being a Rescuer!

The First Gift of Christmas

You'll see the same scene in nearly every nativity set: the three wise men bending over the Christ child sleeping in a manger. However, the wise men, according to scripture, were not at the birth of Christ. They were hundreds of miles away when they "saw His star in the east," and it took them long, weary months of travel and misdirection before they were able to present their gifts to the "coming King."

The first people to hear of Christ's birth weren't wise men or kings. They weren't wealthy and, in some ways, were the lowest "dregs" of society. Poor shepherds, keeping watching over their flocks by night, were the first to hear the good news. In fact, they were issued a royal invitation to see Jesus, one that has not been duplicated. A heavenly host was singing and praising God, and humble shepherds were their only audience. While the crowd of people at Bethlehem (and only miles away the city of Jerusalem) slept, God chose to show that the first gift of Christmas wasn't a gift to the King but rather from the King. God was giving His son to "rescue" all of mankind, and He didn't first seek out the "important" or the "successful"; He came to men who could truly appreciate the magnificence of the gift, because they had so little.

That is the true reason for Christmas and the reason your gifts to the Mission are so important. They show men and women who feel lost and hopeless that God wants to bless them, not because of what they can give Him and not because they are worthy, but because He is. Thank you for helping us help others for another year. Thank you for giving the gift of rescue to men, women, and children in need!

Click here to give the gift of rescue now.